They did not play over the weekend, but the Giants still lost ground on the Eagles. The Giants don’t play this weekend, either, but come Monday night, they can again lose ground on the Eagles and shove themselves back into the pack in what most everyone expected to be a one-horse race in the NFC East.

Of course, the Giants can actually gain ground if they happen to upset the Eagles at Veterans Stadium, a turn of events that might be difficult to imagine for everyone not seeing the world through blue-colored Giants glasses.

It is far too early to start mulling over playoff races, but it is not premature to consider that it is unlikely a wild card team will come out of the NFC East. With four divisions in each conference, there are only two wild-card teams (instead of three), meaning the only reasonable way to consider the Giants as a playoff contender is to conceive of a scenario where they win their division.

“It’s shortened the field if you don’t win your division, who gets in the playoffs,” Jim Fassel said yesterday. “Right now, I haven’t conceded to start thinking about wild cards.”

He might have to entertain that notion if the Giants (3-3) lose in Philadelphia and fall even further behind the Eagles (4-2). Prior to their bye weekend, the Giants were taking solace that no team in the division was doing much of anything to get overly excited about.

“I would be concerned if the rest of the teams were ablaze,” Jason Sehorn said last week. “But we’re right in the middle of the pack. There’s a million teams that are 3-3. There’s 10 games left; over the next five games is when everybody will kind of separate themselves. Everybody’s right there.”

Well, everyone is not right there any more. While the Giants were relaxing, the Eagles were doing their annual dismantling of the Buccaneers, winning 20-10 at Veterans Stadium. Suddenly, the Eagles are where everyone thought they’d be, atop the NFC East, and can take a command position in the weak division if they are able to beat the Giants for the third consecutive time.

This has all the trappings of a mismatch. The hex conjured up over the Eagles – nine consecutive Giants wins in the Fassel era – came crashing down with a thud last season, when the Eagles ended the losing streak with two victories (10-9 and 24-21) by slim margins. The first game, at Giants Stadium, was a Monday Night Football affair and the Eagles found their winning points with 1:52 remaining. Nine weeks later, the Eagles scored 10 points in the final 1:49 to overtake the Giants.

“Hey, we had our way with ’em for a while, they beat us twice in two very, very extremely close games,” Fassel said. “Those two games still sit in my craw quite a bit.”

Rested and healthier than they were following their 17-10 loss to the Falcons, the Giants hope to get back nearly all of their injured players. By at least Thursday, Fassel anticipates Jeremy Shockey, Will Peterson, Michael Strahan, Kenny Holmes, Dhani Jones and Brandon Short to all be on the field. Right guard Jason Whittle remains out with what the team is calling back spasms, but he could be laid up indefinitely.

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The Giants signed S Johnnie Harris, who played three seasons with the Raiders and started seven games, and waived rookie S Ryan Clark. Harris, 30, has bounced around, having played in the Arena League and Canadian Football League . . . Offensive coordinator Sean Payton left the team to attend the funeral of his mother, Jeanne, who died last Friday in Tennessee.